Gain Followers With Trending Instagram Hashtags (January 2025 Update)

Hashtags have been a part of online culture since 2007, when Chris Messina first introduced them in a blog post. Today, Instagram hashtags remain a powerful discovery tool, helping brands and creators increase reach, categorize content, and drive engagement across Feed posts, Reels, and Stories.

While the way hashtags are used on Instagram has evolved, their core purpose hasn’t changed. When used strategically, hashtags help surface your content to new audiences, support social SEO, and strengthen your overall Instagram marketing strategy.

Finding new, trending hashtags can be time-consuming for busy social marketers. That’s why we update this blog monthly with the latest hashtags across beauty, fashion, luxury, home, media, publishing, food, beverage, sports, travel, health, and wellness to help you stay visible and competitive on Instagram.

So, how do hashtags for Instagram work? Essentially, hashtags are used to index keywords on the platform. When a phrase or keyword is preceded by a '#' or 'pound' symbol, this group's related posts (except those from private accounts) appear when users view this hashtag. Individuals can click these to find related content, or brands might create their own to encourage participation in product releases, campaigns and other initiatives. 

Instagram hashtags can fall into several categories, from branded content like hashtags that you create for their campaign, trending hashtags, seasonal hashtags for events like Christmas or significant events like Black Friday. The type of tag you select depends on the content you share, who you hope to reach and other variables. 

Here are the most popular categories of hashtags: 

• Branded: Hashtags a brand creates for a campaign, series, or other content types. For example, Revolve uses the #rvlvme hashtag for its influencers and brand ambassadors to share Revolve styles. 
• Category: More general, ‘category’ hashtags are exactly that. For example, the category ‘Beauty Products’ has thousands of hashtags to choose from, like #beauty, #beautyaddict, #beautyobsessed and more. 
• Event/seasonal: Event or seasonal hashtags are based around seasons like Fall (#fallvibes, for example) or major events like Fashion Week (#nyfw). 
• Campaign: Similar to branded hashtags, these are created for a specific campaign. 
• Acronyms: Commons acronyms used in online communication that apply to posts on Instagram. For example, #ICYMI (in case you missed it), #WCW (woman crush Wednesday), or #TBT (throwback Thursday). 
• Emoji: Emoji hashtags aren’t as popular as text-based hashtags (and are more relevant for Twitter), but they still have a time and place. For example, the #nba hashtag includes a custom emoji of the NBA logo.‍
• Location: These indicate where the content was from or displayed. This could range from a country (#italy) to a local hashtag for your city (#nyc).

The overall ‘best’ hashtags were sourced using Dash Social’s Social Listening feature, which analyzes Instagram hashtag usage and performance over the past 30 days. Trends are reviewed monthly to reflect changes in audience behavior, seasonal moments, and industry-specific engagement.

Whether you’re ringing in the New Year, leaning into fresh-start energy, or sharing winter-inspired content, try incorporating one or more of these trending January hashtags. 

1. #newyear (68.3M)
2. #moments (39.1M)
3. #merry (4M)
4. #growth (42.1M)
5. #2026 (9.4M)
6. #goals (119M)
7. #wishing (756K)
8. #newyearsresolution (11.3K)
9. #happynewyear (68.8M)
10. #2025recap (441K) 

The Best Hashtags for Instagram (December 2025) 

1. #christmas (221M)
2. #christmasseason (1.9M)
3. #christmasspirit (4.1M)
4. #hannukah (322K)
5. #holidayseason (14M)
6. #holidayvibes (3M)
7. #newyearseve (12.2M)
8. #itstime (1.4M)
9. #xmastime (1.5M)
10. #nye (11.1M)

The Best Hashtags for Instagram (November 2025) 

1. #november (18.8M)
2. #novemberrain (689K)
3. #thanksgiving (27M)
4. #thanksgivingdinner (1.2M)
5. #happythanksgiving (5.2M)
6. #happythanksgiving (500+)
7. #gratitudealways (124K)
8. #givingthanks (486K)
9. #givethanks (4.1M)
10. #globalentrepreneurshipweek (24.8K)

The Best Hashtags for Instagram (October 2025) 

1. #october (26.6M)
2. #halloween (133M)
3. #trickortreat (7M)
4. #spookyseason (172K)
5. #pumpkincarving (2.2M)
6. #halloweenmonth (134K)
7. #halloweenmood (183K)
8. #autumnleaves (6.4M)
9. #autumnal (1.1M)
10. #autumnalvibes (93.3K)

1. #stylemepretty (3.2M)
2. #mensfashionreview (2.1M)
3. #fashionreels (3.3M)
4. #fashionrevolution (2.2M)
5. #fashionreporter (11.4K)
6. #fashionrebel (38.7K)
7. #winterfashion (11.4M)
8. #fashionbag (3.5M)
9. #furcoat (1.1M)
10. #winterwear (2M)

Trending Fashion and Luxury Hashtags on Instagram (December 2025) 

Sharing fashion-focused content, or want to enhance posts from your luxury brand? Here are the most popular trending hashtags to use this month

1. #nyeoutfit (204K)
2. #nyeoutfitideas (5K+)
3. #christmasoutfit (928K)
4. #christmasoutfits (213K)
5. #holidayfit (32.7K)
6. #holidayfits (13.1K)
7. #holidayootd (61.1K)
8. #christmaspartyout (84.3K)
9. #newyearsoutfit (207K)
10. #sparklydress (127K)

Trending Fashion and Luxury Hashtags on Instagram (November 2025) 

1. #boots (19.6M)
2. #scarves (2.7M)
3. #scarvescollection (100K)
4. #legwarmers (349K)
5. #legwarmersseason (5K)
6. #uggboots (397K)
7. #novemberstyle (14.9K)
8. #styleoftheday (5K)
9. #styleonpoint (217K)
10. #novemberfashion (5K+)

Trending Fashion and Luxury Hashtags on Instagram (October 2025) 

1. #halloweencostume (10.7M)
2. #halloweencostumeideas (144K)
3. #halloweencostumeidea (11.5K)
4. #falloutfit (1.4M)
5. #falloutfitideas (272K)
6. #falloutfitinspo (248K)
7. #falloutfitinspiration (12.9K)
8. #falloutfitidea (10.7K)
9. #autumnootd (85.6K)
10. #autumnoutfits (268K)

1. #zaralarssonmakeup (1K+)
2. #zaralarssonmakeuptrend (100+)
3. #zaralarssonmakeuptutorial (100+)
4. #selfcaresunday (3.1M)
5. #selfcaresundays (356K)
6. #cooltone (102K)
7. #cooltones (287K)
8. #calicohair (39.6K)
9. #neopolitanhair (1K+)
10. #livedinblonde (916K)

Trending Hashtags for Beauty (December 2025)

Beauty content is some of the most popular online, which means it's also quite saturated. Using trending hashtags can help extend your content's reach and boost its impact. Here are beauty hashtags trending on Instagram this month:

1. #christmasnails (5.8M)
2. #holidaynails (1.9M)
3. #nyehair (5K+)
4. #newyearsmakeup (70.1K)
5. #nyemakeup (95.7K)
6. #holidayglam (293K)
7. #christmasglam (85.3K)
8. #christmasglamour (1K+)
9. #nyeglam (17.2K)
10. #sparklyeyeshadow (33.9K)

Trending Hashtags for Beauty (November 2025)

1. #beautyshoot (1.7M)
2. #organicbeauty (3M)
3. #howtobeauty (6M)
4. #beautyskin (1M)
5. #ecobeauty (1M)
6. #greenbeauty (5M)
7. #hudabeautynewnude (110K)
8. #editorialbeauty (282K)
9. #bathandbeauty (143K)
10. #beautyinfluencers (432K)

Trending Hashtags for Beauty (October 2025)

1. #halloweenmakeup (9.9M)
2. #halloweennails (2.9M)
3. #sfxmakeup (2.8M)
4. #sfxmakeupartist (687K)
5. #sfxmakeupaddict (20.6K)
6. #sfxmakeuptutorial (109K)
7. #spookymakeup (136K)
8. #spookymakeupideas (1K)
9. #sfxmua (377K)
10. #sfxartist (323K)

1. #newyearreset (33K)
2. #homereset (30.3K)
3. #hyggehome (2.3M)
4. #nordichome (3M)
5. #loveyourhome (1M)
6. #homebuilding (830K)
7. #homeseller (979K)
8. #homemaker (920K)
9. #hometips (959K)
10. #hometour (1M)

Trending Home Decor Hashtags (December 2025)

Whether it’s home improvement or home design, the home industry is a hyper-visual industry that can benefit from the right hashtag. Here are some trending home industry hashtags:

1. #christmastree (34.9M)
2. #christmasdecor (12.8K)
3. #christmasdecorinspo (30.5K)
4. #christmasdecoriseverywhere (24.9K)
5. #christmasdecorations🎄 (104K)
6. #christmasdecorideas (173K)
7. #holidaydecorations (227K)
8. #holidaydecorating (398K)
9. #holidaydecoratingideas (17.8K)

Trending Home Decor Hashtags (November 2025)

1. #statelyhome (177K)
2. #homestore (262K)
3. #homeatlast (127K)
4. #shabbychichome (485K)
5. #shabbychichomedecor (37.8K)
6. #shabbychichomes (26K)
7. #fallhomedecor (206K)
8. #tablescapes (1.1M)
9. #tablescapestyling (252K)
10. #thanksgivingtablescape (54.1K)

Trending Home Decor Hashtags (October 2025)

1. #halloweendecor (4.4M)
2. #halloweenmovienight (13.4K)
3. #halloweendecorations (1.2M)
4. #halloweendecorationsareup (1K)
5. #trinket (249K)
6. #trinketdish (307K)
7. #animatronics (194K)
8. #scarydecor (5K)
9. #pumpkincarvingideas (11.1K)
10. #pumpkincarvings (39.1K)

1. #heatedrivalry (107K)
2. #nikkieglaser (12.9K)
3. #goldenglobes (1.3M)
4. #goldenglobes2026 (5K)
5. #traitors (134K)
6. #thetraitors (66.1K)
7. #thetraitorsus (11.4K)
8. #thepitt (43.3K)
9. #28yearslater (61.1K)
10. #28yearslaterfilm (14.8K)

Trending Media and Publishing Industry Hashtags (December 2025)

Often, the media and publishing industry use hashtags that aren’t necessarily specific to media and publishing, but focused on the event, books, author, event, or topic they’re promoting on Instagram. However, there are some general hashtags used in the media and publishing industry that suit a variety of posts. Use these trending Instagram hashtags to bring attention to posts:

1. #netflixwarnerbros (100+)
2. #christmasmovie (283K)
3. #christmasmovies (682K)
4. #christmasmovienight (27.8K)
5. #christmasmoviemarathon (11.4K)
6. #christmasmoviesallday (5K)
7. #holidaymovie (33.5K)
8. #holidaymovies (81.5K)
9. #holidaymovienight (1K+)
10. #holidaymoviemarathon (1K+)

Trending Media and Publishing Industry Hashtags (November 2025)

1. #task (374K)
2. #nobodywantsthis (14K)
3. #itwelcometoderry (18.3K)
4. #sellingsunset (232K)
5. #rhoslc (206K)
6. #rhoslc❄️ (5K)
7. #wicked (3.4M,)
8. #wickedmovie (280K)
9. #wicked2 (5K)
10. #diemylove (5K)

Trending Media and Publishing Industry Hashtags (October 2025)

1. #scream (3.8M)
2. #screamqueens (786K)
3. #screammovie (294K)
4. #horrormovies (8M)
5. #horrorbook (161K)
6. #scarystory (182K)
7. #halloweenmovies (268K)
8. #tloas (23K)
9. #lifeofashowgirl (47.2K)
10. #monster (17.3M)

1. #mayakeggs (5K+)
2. #cheesestuffedsweetpotato (~100)
3. #butterkase (1K+)
4. #butterkasecheese (100+)
5. #sweetpotato (3.4M)
6. #soupdumpling (28K)
7. #cookathome (928K)
8. #cooksthomemore (1K+)
9. #soupseasonishere (12K)
10. #gingerale (327K)

Best Food Hashtags (December 2025)

There’s an old saying that we ‘eat with our eyes’, so what better forum to share food content than Instagram? Here are the best hashtags for Instagram to use for the food and beverage industry: 

1. #christmascake (1.9M)
2. #christmascookie (170K)
3. #christmascookiesfordays (35.3K)
4. #christmascookiechallenge (15.3K)
5. #christmascookiedecorating (5K+)
6. #christmascookies🎄🍪 (19.4K)
7. #holidaybaking (781K)
8. #holidaybakingseason (1K+)
9. #holidaycooking (144K)
10. #holidaycookie (10.5K)

Best Food Hashtags (November 2025)

1. #turkeyday (2M)
2. #turkeydinner (1.7M)
3. #turkeytime (247K)
4. #thanksgivingdinnertable (1K)
5. #thanksgivingrecipe (30.3K)
6. #thanksgivingrecipes (132K)
7. #thanksgivingsides (40.2K)
8. #foodforthesoul (1.3M)
9. #novemberrecipes (500+)
10. #nationalsandwichday (76.9K)

Best Food Hashtags (October 2025)

1. #pumpkin (3M)
2. #pumpkinseason (1.7M)
3. #pumpkinpie (1.2M)
4. #ukfood (364K)
5. #dublinfood (233K)
6. #veganfastfood (173K)
7. #musclefood (846K)
8. #proteincoffee (177K)
9. #proteinshake (2.5M)
10. #soupseason (966K)

1. #hockeyedits (160K)
2. #australianopen (676K)
3. #australianopen2026 (500+)
4. #winterxgames (13.5K)
5. #xgames (647K)
6. #isufigureskating (104K)
7. #freestyleskiing (129K)
8. #figureskating (3.3M)
9. #speedskating (392K)
10. #skateusa (5K+)

Trending Hashtags for Sports (December 2025)

Extend your content's reach wiHere are some relevant hashtags to use in sports industry content this month:

1. #rosebowl (561K)
2. #australianopen (673K)
3. #australianopen2025 (5K+)
4. #johncenawwe (29.3K)
5. #johncenalastmatch (100K+)
6. #ufcfightnight (1.4M)
7. #fightnight (2.6M)
8. #wwemainevent (35.4K)
9. #skiing (13.5M)
10. #snowboarding (15.6M)

Trending Hashtags for Sports (November 2025)

1. #rosebowl (4.8M)
2. #nflinternationalseries (13.1K)
3. #nflinternational (1.3M)
4. #seahawks (2.9M)
5. #seahawksnation (212K)
6. #seahawksfootball (78.2K)
7. #broncos (1.8M)
8. #broncosnation (204K)
9. #colts (795K)
10. #coltsnation (242K)

Trending Hashtags for Sports (October 2025)

1. #playoffs (4.8M)
2. #playoffseason (16.3K)
3. #dolphins (4M)
4. #dolphinsnation (77.9K)
5. #miamidolphins (937K)
6. #yankees (4.1M)
7. #phillies (1.2M)
8. #dodgers (5.2M)
9. #dodgersbaseball (248K)
10. #philliesphanatic (17.2K)

1. #traveltips (5.5M)
2. #traveltipsandtricks (187K)
3. #traveltipster (16K)
4. #travelalone (1M)
5. #travelaloneisfun (26K)
6. #luxurytravel (13M)
7. #luxurytravelling (17K)
8. #japantraveltips (39K)
9. #airtravel (473K)
10. #airporttransfers (191K)

Trending Travel Hashtags for Instagram (December 2025)

Promoting travel, luggage, or anything else in the exploration realm? Tap into these trending travel hashtags:

1. #snowday (15.8M)
2. #snowday❄️(353K)
3. #wintergetaway (332K)
4. #holidaytravel (374K)
5. #holidaytravels (35.6K)
6. #christmasmarket (3.5M)
7. #christmasmarkets (611K)
8. #christmasmarketgermany (5K)
9. #festivegetaway (30.1K)
10. #wintertravel (347K)

Trending Travel Hashtags for Instagram (November 2025)

1. #explore (720M)
2. #exploremore (932M)
3. #travelmusthaves (55.5K)
4. #travelessentials (1.4M)
5. #travelhacks (1M)
6. #traveltips (5.4M)
7. #packingtips (337K)
8. #packinghacks (211K)
9. #solotravel (11.1M)

Trending Travel Hashtags for Instagram (October 2025)

1. #serialtraveler (100K)
2. #travelnotes (131K)
3. #europeantravel (239K)
4. #abmtravelbug (807K)
5. #japantravels (258K)
6. #indonesiantraveller (111K)
7. #travelegypt (254K)
8. #dreamingtravel (204K)
9. #traveloften (911K)
10. #luxtravel (146K)

Trending Health and Wellness Industry Hashtags (December 2025)

Whether you're promoting marathons, light yoga, or general health and wellness trends, here are health and wellness hashtags to expand your reach and engagement.

1. #coldandfluremedies (11K)
2. #coldandfluseason (129K)
3. #endofyearreset (1K)
4. #newyearprep (12K)
5. #decemberreset (1K)
6. #holidayrelaxtion (12.1K)
7. #newyearnewme (3.4M)
8. #newyearnewyou (1.7M)
9. #winterwellness (298K)
10. #newyearreset (10.3K)

Trending Health and Wellness Industry Hashtags (November 2025)

1. #eatingforhealth (165K)
2. #yourhealthisyourwealth (214K)
3. #healthyfromtheinsideout (115K)
4. #selfcareishealthcare (366K)
5. #healthierme (783K)
6. #healthyspine (263K)
7. #healthyish (909K)
8. #healthawareness (846K)
9. #jointlife (605K)
10. #healthnut (696K)

Trending Health and Wellness Industry Hashtags (October 2025)

1. #immunesystem (982.6K)
2. #healthierme (721K)
3. #cbdwellness (577K)
4. #healthkick (403K)
5. #wellnesslifestyle (319K)
6. #wellnesstips (235K)
7. #healthyaging (253K)
8. #holistichealthandwellness (131K)
9. #healthandwellnesscoach (361K)
10. #healthandwellnesstips (113K)

Tips for Instagram Hashtag Use 

While hashtags are a great asset to Instagram posts, Reels and Stories, this doesn’t mean you should use 100 on each post or even the most popular ones. There are social media SEO best practices for the number of hashtags you incorporate into your posts. Here are a few tips to maximize your Instagram hashtag strategy. 

Use Them Sparingly 

Brands should be mindful to avoid ‘spamming’ hashtags. While Instagram lets you use up to 30, this can appear spammy. If brands want to use hashtags, consider how they can complement your caption and stick to 1-3 great, specific ones that offer the potential for good reach but aren’t too competitive, so your content has a chance to surface among ultra-competitive topics. 

Do Hashtag Research 

Before simply using the most popular hashtags, research which hashtags are most relevant to your brand, industry and specific post. Conducting an Instagram competitive analysis is also a great way to determine which hashtags your competitors are using. For example, Go Pro (@gopro) uses a combination of branded and categorical hashtags in its content. Its posts typically feature people using its product in an active set and use a variety of hashtags that reflect the individual image vs. a standard set of hashtags to use on every post. 

Monitor Performance of Posts With and Without Hashtags

It’s important to measure the performance of your efforts on social. While this can be difficult to do with hashtags, compare posts without and with hashtags. You can even contrast posts with 1-5 tags versus posts with fewer to gauge how the number of hashtags impacts your Instagram content so you can hone your strategy. A social analytics and monitoring tool will also help you track the performance of your hashtagged posts.

Optimize the Rest of Your Post 

While hashtags can help increase reach, optimize the rest of your post and consider things like the best time to post on Instagram. Add relevant tags, a compelling caption (if you're posting around an event or holiday, like Valentine's Day for example, try a themed caption) and add trending Reels songs to ensure your posts can reach their maximum potential. 

Benefits of Using Instagram Hashtags

Using Instagram hashtags benefits your social media strategy as they increase reach, helping to bring your content in front of new audiences and potential followers. Instagram hashtags can also help you:

• Source content and UGC. 
• Craft a narrative with branded hashtags.
• Encouraging audience engagement.

Using Dash Social for Instagram Success

Dash Social is everything your Instagram account needs to succeed at each stage of your plan. Our Scheduler helps brands post and plan content, Social Analytics and Monitoring let you measure the performance of your efforts and Content Creator Tools allow you to assess the impact of influencer partnerships on your overall business goals. Beyond this, Dash Social supports your visual strategy with Dash Social's Predictive Vision AI, which uses  AI-powered insights that predict which visual content from your library will perform the best. 

FAQs

How many hashtags should I use on Instagram? 

The number of hashtags you use will depend on your visual content marketing strategy. Instagram limits the number of hashtags you can include on a Feed or Reel post to 30, but we recommend using far less than this. Reels with at least one hashtag achieved 30% higher reach than those without. Research shows that 2-4 hashtags result in the highest reach on Reels. If including hashtags on feed posts, use them sparingly, with 2-4 hashtags per post at most. 

Do hashtags work on Instagram? 

Yes, hashtags work on Instagram. The Instagram algorithm considers views when suggesting accounts. Hashtags can help increase reach, followers and engagement, especially from users who follow those hashtags. On average, Instagram Reels content with hashtags see 30% higher reach, 19% higher engagement rates, 18% higher Effectiveness Rates and 18% more shares than Reels content without hashtags.

Although using hashtags isn’t an end-all-be-all solution, they’re certainly part of a robust Instagram strategy.

Some brands can rely on the strength of their brand and content alone. For example, the Washington Post rarely uses hashtags in its Instagram content. 

How do you hide hashtags on Instagram?

Adding the maximum number of hashtags isn’t necessarily the most effective way to use them on Instagram, but if this is something your brand wants to try, consider adding them in an Instagram comment immediately after posting. Instagram has confirmed adding hashtags in a comment will still surface the post if the hashtag is searched. If your caption is long enough, the hashtags won’t appear in their entirety. Conversely, Instagram captions are cut off at 125 characters, so if you write a long caption and add hashtags at the end, they won’t be visible unless users choose to view them.